Swift: Asynchronous callback

Question

How do I make asynchronous callbacks in swift? I\'m writing a little Framework for my app because it\'s supposed to run on both, iOS und OS X. So I put the main code that is

Answer 1

I'd like to recommend use a block or closure callback instead of using NSThread and selectors.

For example, in my API I have follow method:

Swift:

Below you will find an updated implementation.

func getUsers(completion: (result: NSArray?, error: NSError?)->())
{
    var session = NSURLSession.sharedSession()
    var task = session.dataTaskWithRequest(request){
     (data, response, error) -> Void in
       if error != nil {
         completion(nil, error)
       } else {
         var result:NSArray = data to NSArray;
         completion(result, nil)
       }
    }
    task.resume()
}

Objective-C:

...
typedef void (^CBSuccessBlock)(id result);
typedef void (^CBFailureBlock)(NSError *error);
...

- (void)usersWithSucces:(CBSuccessBlock)success failure:(CBFailureBlock)failure
{
    NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sharedSession];
    [[session dataTaskWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:url]
            completionHandler:^(NSData *data,
                                NSURLResponse *response,
                                NSError *error) {

                NSArray *users = //convert data to array

                if(error)
                    failure(error);
                else
                    success(users);
            }] resume];
}

Then, just make a call to api from view controller:

Objc:
[api usersWithSucces:^(id result)
{
   //Success callback
} failure:^(NSError *error)
{
   //Failure callback
}];

Swift:
api.getUsers({(result: AnyObject?, error: NSError?) -> Int in
    // callback here
})

UPDATE:

Meanwhile, I see that the question and answers are still being useful and interested. Well, here is an updated version of swift implementation using generic enum as a result object:

//Generic enum that represents the result
enum AsyncResult
{
    case Success(T)
    case Failure(NSError?)
}


class CustomUserObject
{

}

func getUsers(completion: (AsyncResult<[CustomUserObject]>)->())
{
    let request = NSURLRequest()
    let session = NSURLSession.sharedSession()
    let task = session.dataTaskWithRequest(request){
        (data, response, error) -> Void in
        if let error = error
        {
            completion(AsyncResult.Failure(error))
        } else {
            let result: [CustomUserObject] = []//deserialization json data into array of [CustomUserObject]
            completion(AsyncResult.Success(result))
        }
    }
    task.resume()
}

//Usage:

getUsers { (result) in
    switch result
    {
    case .Success(let users):
        /* work with users*/
        break
    case .Failure(let error):
        /* present an error */
        break
    }
}